Reach 1

Program Details

Reach 1Lake Worth Inlet to Onondaga Avenue

FDEP Range Monument R-76 to R-78 (2,410 feet)

FDEP Designation:

Critically Eroded

Current Action

Inlet Maintenance Dredging scheduled by USACE for winter of 2014/2015; to include settling basin, harbor channel, and turning basins. Placement of all beach-compatible sand will be placed on the dry beach and within the permitted beach profile.

Town working with the USACE to expand the sand placement area to the south (from the current end point at Angler Avenue [R-79] to approximately Queens Lane [near R-81.5]).

Continue Sand Transfer Plant operations.

2016 Townwide Physical Monitoring Report, dated February 2017

Reach 1: (R-76 to R-78)

Reach 1 experienced a net shoreline increase of 94.4 during this monitoring period. This advancement primarily occurred throughout the reach and is attributable to both sand discharge by the Sand Transfer Plant (STP) and direct beach placement of inlet maintenance material. Volumetric gains on the order of 61,552 cubic yards (to -26.2 feet NAVD) occurred over this time period, with the greatest gains occurring on the beach and in the nearshore zone.

Overall, this reach has exhibited a long term substantial net shoreline advance of 178.5 feet and volumetric gain (to -26.2 feet NAVD) of 736,450 cubic yards since 1990. This long-term advance in shoreline and volume is associated with discharge by the Sand Transfer Plant (STP) within this reach and direct placement of material from inlet maintenance operations.

The net result of Hurricane Sandy and post storm beach recovery and placement has been a minor advance in shoreline position of 0.6 feet and a net gain in volume of 118,569 cubic yards. The monitoring data suggests that Reach 1 has lost a significant volume of material to the south into Reach 2 though this trend is not evident within the Reach 2 upper beach performance.

FDEP Strategic Beach Management Plan, June 2015 Update

Strategy: Bypass an average annual volume of 202,000 cy of sand to the downdrift beaches through a combination of the operation of the sand transfer plant and beach placement of maintenance dredge material from the federally authorized navigation channel; place all beach compatible material dredged during channel maintenance on downdrift beaches in Reach 1, in an extended beach placement in Reach 2, and when feasible, at Mid-Town and Phipps Ocean Park projects; dredging placement should be limited to dry beach; extension of the discharge pipeline to discharged points located at the south jetty, and approximately 3,600 ft. of the south jetty; expand the settling basin; comply with the Palm Beach Island Beach Management Agreement (BMA), 2013; update the sediment budget and the inlet management plan.

Comprehensive Coastal Management Plan, 1998 Update

Reach 1 has been subjected to direct sand placement in recent years as a result of dredged sand disposal from the maintenance of Lake Worth Inlet. With the continued Sand Transfer Plant discharge of sand onto the north end of Palm Beach Island and placement of beach-quality maintenance dredge sand by the U.S. Corps of Engineers, two principal Lake Worth Inlet Management Plan objectives of sand bypassing across the Inlet and maintenance of the navigation channel are partially satisfied.